Author: Meghan Brescia

Major Michigan Health Systems Transition to Optional Masking

After three years of caring for patients throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many of Michigan’s major health systems are making masking optional in most areas over the next week.

Factors influencing the Michigan health systems to work together to make this decision include:

  • The number of COVID-19 inpatients has drastically declined across the state.
  • There are multiple effective ways to combat the virus, including vaccines and medical treatment.
  • The desire to restore the powerful human connection when patients, caregivers and loved ones can see each other’s faces.


Specific details about each health system’s optional masking policies will be available on each health system’s website. COVID-19 has become an illness that, in most cases, will be treated like other respiratory illnesses, such as the flu. The virus will likely remain for years to come.

All health systems will continue to provide stations with free masks and hand sanitizer at entrances for patients, visitors and team members who choose to use them. Patients can also ask their care teams to wear masks.

Masking guidelines could be adjusted again if COVID-19, flu or any other virus begins to spread rapidly in the community.

Below are links to each health system’s website and a brief explanation of what’s changing and when:

Ascension Michigan

  • Effective immediately: Ascension Michigan acute care and ambulatory centers have suspended the routine use of hospital-grade masks except in units providing care to special immunocompromised populations or patients with an increased risk of complications from COVID-19. These include intensive care units, oncology units/centers and transplant units.

Bronson Healthcare

  • Effective Tuesday, April 18: Masking will become optional for patients, visitors, and employees at Bronson Healthcare hospitals and outpatient locations, except for those who exhibit symptoms of respiratory or infectious illness.  Masking will continue at Bronson Commons – a skilled nursing facility.

Corewell Health

  • Effective Friday, April 14, at 6 a.m.: Optional masking for patients and clinical teams at all hospitals and locations, except long-term care and skilled nursing facilities and transplant clinics.

Covenant HealthCare

  • Effective Monday, April 17: Masking will be optional for staff, patients, visitors, and volunteers at Covenant facilities with a few exceptions. Details available on the Covenant website.

Detroit Medical Center (DMC)

  • Effective Friday, April 14: Masking will be optional for patients and staff at all Detroit Medical Center hospitals and locations.

Henry Ford Health

  • Effective Friday, April 14: Masks will be optional at Henry Ford Health facilities except for inpatient areas where we care for immunocompromised patients.

Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation

  • Effective Friday, April 14 at 7 a.m.: Masking is recommended but optional for patients, visitors and clinical teams at our Grand Rapids hospital campus, West Michigan outpatient locations, and Mary Free Bed Orthotics & Prosthetic + Bionics locations. The Mary Free Bed Sub-Acute Rehabilitation program will continue to require masks for patients, visitors and staff.

McLaren Health Care

  • Effective Monday, April 17: Masking will become optional for patients, visitors, and employees at all McLaren Health Care hospital and outpatient locations, except for designated critical care units, Karmanos Cancer Institute facilities, subacute/outpatient rehabilitation facilities, and skilled nursing facilities.

Michigan Medicine

Munson Healthcare

  • Effective Friday, April 14: Universal masking will no longer be required in Munson Healthcare hospitals and clinics – with the exception of long-term care and skilled nursing facilities. In addition, the health system will return to its pre-pandemic visitation policy.

MyMichigan Health

  • Visitors and patients are no longer required to mask in non-patient care areas, including common entryways, hallways and waiting rooms. Patient care areas are defined as any location in which patients are being screened, evaluated, treated or admitted.

Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services

  • Effective Thursday, April 13: Employees and visitors are no longer required to wear a mask except in 24/7 patient care settings and specialty care units. Patients will continue to be screened/tested for COVID-19 at admission and are not required to mask unless endorsing symptoms of illness or diagnosed with COVID-19 infection.

Trinity Health Michigan

  • Effective Monday, April 17:  Optional masking for patients, visitors and colleagues at hospitals, outpatient facilities, home health, and physician offices, except for senior living communities.

IHA Begins Construction on New Medical Center in Chelsea

An architectural rendering of the new IHA Chelsea Medical Center, which began construction in June 2021.

CHELSEA, Mich. (June 23, 2021) –  On Wednesday, June 16, IHA, the area’s leading multispecialty medical group, celebrated the start of construction on the new IHA Chelsea Medical Center at a groundbreaking ceremony. IHA has been providing exceptional care to the Chelsea community for nearly 40 years. This new medical center will be designed to enrich the overall patient experience and provide coordinated care across multiple practices and throughout IHA’s extensive delivery care network in Southeast Michigan.

“This building is the continuation of a critical development strategy for IHA. Over the past 15 years, we have actively consolidated practices to regional facilities where we can provide convenient, multi-specialty services to our patients,” said Lowell Sprague, Director of Facilities and Real Estate Management. “This building, in particular, will allow IHA to bring together and expand the existing primary care services IHA provides in Chelsea under one roof.” 

This new medical center is scheduled to open in July of 2022 and will bring together three established IHA practices including IHA Chelsea Primary Care, IHA Obstetrics & Gynecology Chelsea, and IHA Chelsea Pediatrics. When complete, the building will be over 18,000 square feet and will provide capacity for three practices, 14 providers and over 40 support staff.

The Chelsea Medical Center project has been a long time coming for IHA. Planning for the medical center began in 2015 and more than 10 locations across the Chelsea area received consideration before this site was selected. The new building will be located on Old US 12 and was established in partnership with St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea and Silver Maples of Chelsea. “We are excited to have the opportunity to open this new medical office building alongside our partners at St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea to collectively provide affordable and high-quality healthcare to Chelsea and the surrounding communities,” said IHA CEO, Mark LePage, MD, who gave remarks at the groundbreaking event.

Photos captured at the groundbreaking event on Wednesday, June 16, 2021 for the new IHA Chelsea Medical Center.

About IHA

Established in 1994, IHA is one of the largest multi-specialty medical groups in Michigan delivering more than one million patient visits each year, practicing based on the guiding principle: our family caring for yours. Led by physicians, IHA is committed to providing the best care with the best outcomes for every patient and an exceptional work experience for every provider and employee. IHA offers patients from infancy through senior years, access to convenient, quality health care with extended office hours and urgent care services, online patient diagnosis, treatment and appointment access tools. IHA is based in Ann Arbor and employs more than 3,000 staff, including more than 700 providers consisting of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, care managers and midwives in more than 100 practice locations across Southeast Michigan. IHA serves as the Medical Group for Saint Joseph Mercy Health System and a member of Trinity Health. To learn more about IHA, visit www.ihacares.com.